The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-09-02

comparatively Ilttic Wi'c, o"U o"S' :"
day long, governs it, beauties it, sancti
fies it, 1t is within her power to make
the most attractive place on earth. 1t
the only calm harbor in this world. Yol
know as well as | do, that this outsid
world and the business world Is Ion;
scene of iostle and contention. The maj
who has Il dollar struggles to keep it; tin
the man who has it not struggles to &c
it. Prices up. Prices Down. Losses
Gains. Misrepresentation. Gougings
Undertakings. Buyers Gerreciating; sales
men cxaggerating. Tenants seeking les
rent; landlords demanding more. Golt
tidgety. Struggles about office. Mer
who are in trying to keep in; men out try
ing to get in. Slips. Tumbles. Defalca
tions. Panics. Catastrophes. Owoman
thank God you have Il home, and that
YOU may be queen in it. Better be there
than wear Victoria's coronet. Better
be there than carry the purse of prin'
cess. Your abode may he humble, but
you can, by your faith in God, and youl
cheerfulness of demeanor, gild it with
splendors such as an upholsterer's hand
1 never vet kindled. There are abodes in
lIlc CIN-Iltlultut, WV rt'i icui l'istAis
unpapered rooms; undesirable neighbor-
hood; and yet there is man here this
morning who would die on that thresh-
old rather than surrender it. Why? 1t
is home. Whenever he thinks of it, he
sees angels of God lowering around it.
The ladders of heaven are let down to
that house. Over the child's rough crib
there are the chantings of angels as those
that broke over Bethlehem. 1t is home.
These children may come up after awhile,
and they may win high position, and
they will not until their dying day forget
that humble roof, under which their
father rested, and their mother sang, and
their sisters played. o, if you would
gather up all tender memories, all the
lights and shades of the heart, all BAN
quetings and reunions, all filial, fraternal,
paternal. and conjugal affections, and
you had only just four letters with which
to spell out that height and depth, and
length, and breadth, and magnitude, and
eternity of meaning, you would, with
streaming eyes, and trembling voice, and
agitated hand, write it out in those four
living capitals, H-O-M-E.
What right does woman want that is
grander than to be queen in such realm?
Why the eagles of heaven cannot fly
across that dominion. Horses, painting
and with lathered TANKS, are not swift
enough to run to the outpost Of that
realm. They say that the sun never sets
upon the English empire; but l have to
tell you that on this realm of woman's
influence. eternity never marks any
bound. Isabella fled from the Spanish
throne, pursued by the nations anathe-
ma; but she who is queen in home will
never lose her throne. and death itself
will only be the annexation of heavenly
principalities.
When you want to get your grandest
ideas of a queen, you do not think of
Catharine of Russia, or of Anne of Eng
land. or Marie Theresa of Germany; but
when you want to get your grandest idea
of queen. you think of the plain woman
who sat opposite your father at the table,
or walked with him arm in arm down
ife's pathway; sometimes to the
thanksgiving banquet, sometimes to the
grave, but always together-sooth-
ing your petty griefs, correcting your
childish waywardness, joining in your
infantile sports, listening to your evening
prayers, toiling for you with needle or
at the spinning wheel. and on cold nights
wrapping you up snug and warm. And
then at last on that day when she lay in
the back room dying and you saw her
take those thin hands with which she
toiled for you SO long and put them to-
gether in dying prayer that commended
you to the God whom she had taught
you to trust-O. she was the queen!
The chariots of God came down to fetch
her, and as she went in, all heaven rose
up. You cannot think of her now with
out a rush of tenderness that stlrs the
deep foundations of your soul, and you
feel as much child again as when you
cried on her lap; and if you could bring
her back again to speak just once more
your name, as tenderly as she used to
speak it, you would be willing to throw
yourself on the ground and kiss the sod
that covers her, crying: ''Mother,
mother!' All! she was the queen
she was the queen. Now, can
you tell me how many thousand miles a
woman like that would have to travel
down before she got to the ballot box?
Compared with this work of training
kings and queens for God and eternity,
how insignificant seems all this work of
voting for aldermen and common coun-
cilmen and sheriffs and constables and
mayors and presidents. To make one
such grand woman as 1 have described
how many thousands would you want of
those people who go in the round of god
lessness and fashion and dissipation, dis
torting their body until in their mon
strosities they seem to outdo the drome-
Diary and hippopotamus; going as far
toward disgraceful apparel as they dare
go, SO as not to be arrested of the police;
their behavior sorrow to the good and
a caricature of the vicious, and an insult
to that God who made them women and
not gorgons; and tramping on, down
through frivolous and dissipated life,
to temporal and eternal damnation.
o, woman, with the lightning of your
soul, strike dead at your feet all these al
lurements to dissipation and to fashion.
Your immortal soul cannot be fed upon
such garbage. God calls you up to
empire and dominion. Will you have it?
n -r;ro 4 CoJ x,p,,r hoort. ,r;-a 70 God |